Work fluctuation theorem for a classical circuit coupled to a quantum conductor

TL;DR

This paper proposes a setup combining a quantum conductor and a classical LC circuit to experimentally test the quantum fluctuation theorem, demonstrating the theorem's validity in a non-Gaussian noise context.

Contribution

It introduces a measurable classical circuit setup for testing the quantum fluctuation theorem and extends the theorem's proof to systems with non-Gaussian noise.

Findings

The classical circuit can measure work done on the quantum conductor.

The fluctuation theorem holds in the described setup with non-Gaussian noise.

The system is effectively modeled by a Langevin equation with non-Gaussian white noise.

Abstract

We propose a setup for a quantitative test of the quantum fluctuation theorem. It consists of a quantum conductor, driven by an external voltage source, and a classical inductor-capacitor circuit. The work done on the system by the voltage source can be expressed by the classical degrees of freedom of the LC circuit, which are measurable by conventional techniques. In this way the circuit acts as a classical detector to perform measurements of the quantum conductor. We prove that this definition is consistent with the work fluctuation theorem. The system under consideration is effectively described by a Langevin equation with non-Gaussian white noise. Our analysis extends the proof of the fluctuation theorem to this situation.